Thursday, September 06, 2012

Cost of stuff in Rome

Following up on the coins issue I found a very interesting article about the prices of stuff in ancient Rome. These prices are for the year 301 AD. The complete article can be read here.First surprising finding is the usage of a common dinarii (denariicommunes). Which was actually a notational currency. A quote from the article:

All the prices and wages are listed indenariicommunes, which were not actually silverdenariias we usually think of when discussing ancient Roman coinage. Denarii communes, or d.c., were notational currency. What this means is, an exchange rate was given, telling how much of the currency in circulation at that time (nummi) it took to equal one d.c. This made it easy to change the value of the money in circulation, without having to rewrite and redistribute the entire edict. A series of exchange tables are at the end of this handout.I'll list some of the most interesting prices, but first some units:modius = 8 liters dry unitlibra = 326 gramssextarius = 546 mlCommon Food Items

Barley, Rye

60 Denarii per Modius

Beans, Crushed

100 Denaris per Modius

Beans, Whole

60 Denarii per Modius

Beef, Mutton or Goat

8 Denarii per Libra

Beer

2 to 4 Denarii per Libra

Cabbage and Lettuce

1 to 2 Quintarius

Cheese

8 Denarii per Libra

Chickens

30 Denarii

Eggs

1 Denarius

Fish, River

8 to 10 Denarii per Libra

Fish, Sea

15 to 25 Denarii per Libra

Goose

100 to 200 Denarii

Ham

20 Denarii per Libra

Honey

10 to 40 Denarii per Sextarius

Lentil Beans

100 Denarii per Modius

Sausage

10 to 16 Denarii per Libra

Olive Oil

40 Denarii per Sextarius

Peaches

1 to 2 Quintarius

Pheasant

125 to 250 Denarii

Pork or Lamb

12 Denarii per Libra

Rice, cleaned

200 Denarii per Modius

Salt

100 Denarii per Modius

Wheat

100 Denarii per Modius

Wine

16 to 30 Denarii per Sextarius

Common Wages

Artist, mosaic worker

50 - 60 Denarii per day

Barber

2 Denarii per customer

Bath Attendant

20 -25 Denarii per day

Carpenter

50 Denarii per day

Farm Laborer

25 Denarii per day

Fortune Teller

20 - 25 Denarii per day

Fuller (Wool weaver)

175 Denarii per cloak

Linen Weaver

20 - 40 Denarii per day

Manual Laborer

25 Denarii per day

Messenger

18 - 20 Denarii per day

Scribe

1 Denarius per 5 - 7 lines

Secretary

30 - 35 Denarii per day

Skilled Tradesman

35 - 75 Denarii per day

Stone Mason

50 Denarii per day

Teacher, elementary

50 Denarii per month

Teacher, advanced

250 Denarii per month

Soldiers' Base Pay:

1800 Denarii per year Praetorian Guard: 5500 Denarii per year

Annual Grain Annona: 600 Denarii per year

Donative (bonus pay 4 per year) 2500 Denarii

Grain allotment 30 Modii of wheat per year

For the next article I'll be working up some prices for weapons and armor. Stay tunned!